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Right to counsel still isn’t always assured

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Saturday March 16, 2013 5:45 AM

Fifty years ago, on March 18, 1963, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that states are required to
provide counsel in criminal cases for people who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys.

After being convicted without having been represented by a lawyer, Clarence Earl Gideon appealed
to the Supreme Court from his cell at the Florida State Prison. He argued that he had been
denied counsel and his rights had been violated. The court stated:

“Governments, both state and federal, quite properly spend vast sums of money to establish
machinery to try defendants accused of crime Similarly, there are few defendants charged with
crime, few indeed, who fail to hire the best lawyers they can get to prepare and present their
defenses. That government hires lawyers to prosecute and defendants who have the money hire lawyers
to defend are the strongest indications of the widespread belief that lawyers in criminal courts
are necessities, not luxuries. The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed
fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries, but it is in ours.”

Gideon was retried, this time represented by counsel. He was acquitted.

Now, 50 years later, this important constitutional guarantee often goes unfulfilled. In
many places in Ohio, poor people languish in jails for weeks or months without the assistance of
counsel.

The Constitution Project, in its report, “Justice Denied,” stated: “Experience demonstrates that
there is virtually certain to be wide variations in the quality of services if each county... is
able to structure defense services in a way that it deems best.”

Ohio is a prime example. Some counties use public-defender offices for all or some of the cases,
some use nonprofit corporations, and most use private appointed counsel. As one might expect,
the quality, cost and efficiency vary widely.

There are substantial benefits to society when public-defense systems are properly organized and
funded. Public defenders who are competent, who have manageable workloads and who have access
to proper training and support can ensure that our constitutional rights are protected and that no
one’s liberty is taken unless and until proved guilty.

A public defender is not an expense, but an investment in creating a fair and impartial justice
system.

In this 50th year of the right to counsel, Ohio can and should begin to build a system that
brings quality, efficiency and meaning to the right to counsel across the state. The promises
of Gideon have been delayed too long.